If your daughter went to you and said she wanted to raise rabbits, would you know what to do?
If not, then you may want to head over to Howell Living History Farm for the Mercer County 4-H Fair and take a gander at what the members of the Backyard Farmers club are doing. But if so, you might consider volunteering to help run the club!
The annual fair, set for its 95th edition Aug. 3 and 4, is an occasion for members of the many clubs of the Mercer County 4-H to showcase projects they have worked on throughout the year. This year’s theme is 4-H Youth at Work: Leading us into the Future.
Operated by the Rutgers University Mercer County Cooperative Extension, the organization offers clubs and after-school and summer programs that provide informal (but not insubstantial) educational opportunities for kids as young as Kindergarten age and as old as a year out of high school. The fair is meant to celebrate 4-H’s long association with Mercer County and Howell Farm by featuring family-friendly activities such as arts and crafts, animal shows and farm tours.
All the clubs in the Mercer County 4-H will be on hand at the fair, and the children who are members of the clubs will have chances to share the skills and knowledge they have learned. There will be food and homemade ice cream, hay and pony rides, live music, spinning, felting, and fiber demonstrations and displays by organizations such as the Master Gardeners of Mercer County and the Mercer County Wildlife Center.
There are also contests in which members of both the 4-H clubs and the public can compete to win blue ribbons. More than 160 discipines are open to competitors for this year’s fair, and the public is encouraged to submit entries in categories ranging from flower drying to target shooting to robotics. Judges will be on hand to compare and contrast those family recipes, heirloom vegetables or woodworking projects that people have spent hours and days working on.
Altaira Bejgrowicz is a 4-H program assistant with the Cooperative Extension of Mercer County, housed on Spruce Street in Lawrence. She is also the coordinator of what she calls “a true 4-H fair.”
“It’s there for everybody to see what the kids have done all year,” she said. “When the public engages our 4-Hers, it’s nice to listen in because the kids are really knowledgeable. You hear the public asking them questions and they really get excited about what they’re talking about.”
Bejgrowicz said some of the clubs will just have tables at the fair, with members on hand to explain to fairgoers what their clubs are about. Other clubs will probably have displays of projects their members have worked on, collectively and individually. The animal club’s project for the year, for example, is to prepare for the fair. Kids in the club learn about the animals, how to care for them and how to display them.
Meanwhile in the exhibit tent, fairgoers will be able to converse with educational “vendors” about gardening, pet adoption or even the practice of canning foods.
Bejgrowicz said that while commercial interests are front and center at many fairs today, the 4-H fair retains its agrarian roots.
“I think ours tries to really bring back that community spirit. It’s just a nice day,” she said. “It’s not a carnival. It’s not really another world, but in a way it is.”
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The 4-H youth organization originated around the turn of the 20th century with a focus on farming. The four H’s are Head, Heart, Hands and Health.
According to the 4-H website, researchers at public universities had observed that farmers tended to be unwilling to adopt new technologies and practices developed on university campuses. However, younger people were more open to new ideas and to experimenting and sharing the results with adults.
Youth farming programs were thus seen as a way to introduce innovations into the farming community at large. The first 4-H club is considered to have been formed in 1902 in Clark County, Ohio, although it was not until 1914 that the organization came under the purview of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extension program. The iconic clover logo was adopted in 1924.
Over time the mission of many 4-H clubs have changed. While many 4-H’s retain a rural character and agricultural mandate, clubs in suburban and urban areas have changed their focus in order to stay relevant.
The Mercer County 4-H has a livestock club and a horticulture club, but it also has clubs concerned with environmental stewardship, a sport shooting club and even one on English country dance. Members join clubs because they have an interest in the topic.
Each club has officers and bylaws. They all require children to do yearly presentations at the club level, sharing what they’ve learned. Once a year in the spring, members also get together at the Extension office to share presentations with other clubs.
But it’s not as though the Mercer County 4-H staff decide to start a horse club, then hopes kids will sign up.
“It sort of works the other way,” Bejgrowicz said. “Someone comes to us and says, ‘I want to start a club on horses,’ and we start it that way. Kids come to us all the time. I have a letter from a little girl with ideas about a dog club we should start. I thought, ‘How about your mom, does your mom want to be a leader?’”
No matter what the club, members have to set goals and then set out to meet those goals with the aid of club leaders. Members keep record books in which they report what they’ve learned and evaluate their goals. To remain a member in good standing, kids have to show up at meetings and reach certain goals. While some clubs have dues, that is something set at the club level. Clubs that collect money through dues or fundraising have treasurers to keep track.
Though clubs have general themes, members are encouraged to develop their own learning tracks within the parameters of those themes. Bejgrowicz said she’s often amazed by the ideas members come up with and the effort they put into reaching their goals.
This year, she said, one boy who wants to become a chef set out to raise lambs. At the annual presentation event he explained to those in attendance why he feels American lambs are superior to those grown in other countries, and went on to describe what he learned about preparing lamb dishes. Other kids have learned how to make cheese from goat milk, while one did a presentation on the history of the necktie.
“It’s amazing what they find interesting and how they make it interesting to the group,” Bejgrowicz said. “That’s one of my favorite things. I’ve had people tell me you can always tell a 4-Her, and I believe it’s because of the presentations they have to give.”
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Bejgrowicz, a 13-year resident of Hopewell Borough, was originally involved at the Cooperative Extension through the Master Gardener program. She was a volunteer master gardener when she became involved in the Junior Master Gardener program, and later worked in the 4-H after-school program, where she remained largely focused on gardening. A few years ago the position for club coordinator opened up, and she took it.
Bejgrowicz is also involved at the family level. Her daughter Ava, 14, is in the Backyard Farmers club. She has a rabbit she’s been learning to care for, and this year will be her first showing the rabbit at the fair. Bejgrowicz also has a daughter Claire, 18, with husband Paul.
“It’s her first year. She’s learning a lot,” Bejgrowicz said of Ava. “There are a lot of really experienced girls in her club.”
While the 4-H has a budget and paid staff like Bejgrowicz, it still depends on volunteers to coordinate the club programs. One such volunteer is Hopewell resident Jay Ottinger, who serves as a leader for the Shooting Stars club.
Ottinger said his son Jack had learned some basic shooting skills in a Cub Scout camp and showed interest in learning more. But when Ottinger tried to sign Jack up at a shooting club in Hunterdon County, he found the member list full with a waiting list.
So he talked to some people he knew, including some hunters, and he found that they too were interested in giving their kids a place to learn skills with guns and bows. Through 4-H, they took it upon ourselves to get a club started. The 26 members of his club are learning skills in archery as well as air rifle and shotgun shooting.
“I think it’s been reasonably successful,” Ottinger said. “We have a core number of members who are very dedicated. They would make meeting three times a week if we had them.”
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The fair is scheduled to take place Saturday, Aug. 3 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Children’s activities, hay rides and exhibits will take place throughout the fair. The opening ceremony will take place at 1 p.m. on Aug. 3.
Projects will be received from the general public for entry in the fair on Friday, Aug. 2, from 4 to 8 p.m. at Howell Living History Farm. A list of all categories open to competition can be found on the Mercer County 4-H website.
Howell Farm is located on Valley Road, just off Route 29, two miles south of Lambertville. People using Internet directions should use 70 Woodens Lane, Lambertville as the destination address.
Howell Living History Farm is a facility of the Mercer County Park Commission. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.
For more information, search online for “Mercer County 4-H.”
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